Didactic Methods for Palentology Teaching in the Brazilian Basic Education

Abstract

Due to the Paleontology teaching deficiency in the Brazilian Basic Education, an effort to develop new didactic methods have been applied in order to the improvement students learning. However, discussing results of the applied methodologies are necessary to avoid low learning practices. In this way, this work aims to connect didactic methods experiences of Paleontology in the classroom and their results in the teaching-learning process of Basic Education in Brazil. We found a total of 16 scientific papers reporting Paleontology teaching through games, fossil replicas workshops, museum and park visits, talks, digital interactivity, and short histories. All papers reported that didactic methods in Paleontology were stimulator of curiosity, cooperation and interaction of students from different levels. However, results showed that talks and lectures followed by fossil replicas workshops were not enough for learning some paleontological topics. Considering the results described by the authors, we suggest the use of more than one didactic method in the Paleontology teaching for the best teaching-learning process. In addition, students should be challenged to solve problems in order to incorporate the scientific knowledge more efficiently, unlinking paleontological information and misconceptions released by the media. The application of didactic methods in the Paleontology teaching should not be only focused on the exposition of information and objects to the students, but related to a problem resolution, instigating students to think, discuss, and compare information, thus improving the teaching-learning process.

Keywords

• Teaching
• Educational practices
• Paleontology